


A Cause for Celebration

by RachaelGold



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M, Total Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-28 15:21:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14452089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RachaelGold/pseuds/RachaelGold
Summary: Back on Earth, B'Elanna plans a pleasant dinner with friends to celebrate Chakotay's birthday. She hopes to give him a bit of shove in Kathryn's direction.Setting: Chakotay's first birthday post-Endgame





	A Cause for Celebration

"Happy Birthday, old man!" cried B’Elanna, kissing Chakotay on the cheek. He was looking remarkably good for someone supposedly heartbroken. 

"Well…thanks, I think. But I'll have you know I'm still in my prime!" he responded, hugging her back. "No Miral?" 

"Goodness no! She’d have hollered her way through the meal...ruined it for everyone." 

"Who’s got her?" 

"Mom and Dad," said Tom cheerfully, accepting Chakotay’s hand, and briefly squeezing his shoulder. "Happy Birthday, Chakotay!" 

"And they’re loving every minute of it!" B’Elanna added. 

They sat down at a large table in a dark corner of the rather rustic establishment, and greeted Harry and Libby, who were already seated there. B’Elanna deliberately left a chair empty between Chakotay and herself. She had plans as to who was going to sit there. Tom sighed, as he noticed her scheming. Generally, he humoured her to some extent in her meddling, but in his heart he thought she should leave well alone. If Kathryn and Chakotay had been destined to be together, they would have been long ago…and he’d have cleaned out the betting pool. No, Chakotay’s ridiculous, but short lived, dalliance with Seven had put an end to all that speculation. Since then, according to B’E, Chakotay had been down in the dumps, and so she had organised this party to cheer him up…and to get Kathryn and Chakotay in the same room with each other. Preferably in the same bed with each other. 

"It seems ages since I’ve seen her," Chakotay said wistfully of eight month old Miral. 

"Well, I’ve brought some images to pass round later…but you could always stop by. You’ve stayed away for far too long, you naughty boy! Miral misses her honorary uncle! Whatever have you been doing?" 

"Well, you know…the new job’s kept me far too busy! But I will rectify it, I promise!" 

"Congratulations, by the way…Captain!" There was a chorus of people joining in with the sentiment. "How does it feel to be in the big seat?" 

"Pretty good, actually. The refit’s nearly finished, and Voyager’s looking great. But it’s hard to believe she’s mine." 

"Absolutely!" said Tom. "Janeway's been stuck in that chair so long, we didn’t think anyone would prise her out." 

"It took an offer from the Admiralty…" interjected Harry. 

"Never thought your big ass would fit in that chair, Chakotay!" continued Tom. 

"As it happens, I have a brand new chair…the old one’s going to the museum. I have a whole new Bridge, in fact. No expense spared!" 

"Well, aren’t you just the man of the moment?" 

"Starfleet’s pet project." 

"The ship is. Not me. Kathryn’s their blue-eyed girl. Is she coming, by the way?" Chakotay asked with more than a little interest. 

"Yep," said B’Elanna, "but she called me earlier to say something urgent had come up. Said she might be late…but she wouldn’t miss it for the world." Chakotay seemed particularly pleased that Kathryn was intending to come, she noticed with relish. 

The friends chatted happily for a while. There was lots of news to catch up on. Mike Ayala turned up, with an unknown girlfriend. The Doc came, despite the fact that he would be unable to eat anything. Fortunately, Seven had taken herself off to work on Vulcan, under Tuvok’s watchful eye, where she was a whole lot more comfortable than she ever had been on earth, and this saved B’Elanna the awkwardness of not inviting her. Sam Wildman came with her husband, and also a couple of Chakotay’s other special friends, one of whom took the seat B’Elanna had carefully been saving for Kathryn. She was about to intervene when Tom kicked her in the foot, so reluctantly she refrained. 

A waitress came with menupadds. They studied them for ages, reluctant to order without the last guest. 

Everybody’s recent life history was picked over, Miral’s antics described in glorious detail, and the waitress was sent away three times. They all roared with laughter over Chakotay’s experiences at command school. No, he hadn’t had to sit through any lectures by Admiral Janeway. That could have been rather interesting. Maybe he could have embarrassed her with awkward questions about Delta Quadrant tactics. Maybe he could have chucked paper spaceprobes at her to see what reaction he got. Yes, she would have been a lot more interesting than some of the dull old codgers he went on to describe. 

Finally, the lady in question arrived, a little breathless. Some minor skirmish had occurred between the Romulans and some belligerent Federation traders, which had threatened to turn nasty, and she’d had to deal with it before all out war erupted. 

She wished Chakotay a very happy birthday, and kissed him on the cheek, much to B’Elanna’s delight. She sat down at the only remaining seat, which sadly was farthest from Chakotay, apologised to everyone for holding them up and hastily chose something light from the menu. 

Then she disappeared to the washroom to change out of her uniform, and emerged five minutes later, looking gorgeous in dark slacks and a fluffy pale green jumper. She had released her hair from the tight coil, and it was now curling beautifully on her shoulders. B’Elanna watched Chakotay’s eyes pass appreciatively over his former Captain, as a discrete smile formed on his lips, and she felt a small flutter of excitement that her little plan was having something of an impact. What a damned nuisance it was that they hadn’t ended up sitting next to each other. She wondered if she could get them all to change places for dessert. 

The meal was delicious, and the conversation flowed freely, punctuated by much laughter. Kathryn, after reporting guardedly about her job, was unnaturally quiet, talking only to the people either side of her. B’Elanna began to think that this whole Seven debacle had hurt her more than she’d let on, and that maybe it was going to take something of a miracle to get her and Chakotay back where they should have been all along. Together. 

Ideas of dessert were abandoned, when a mountainous birthday cake appeared from the kitchens. B’Elanna hadn’t ordered this, so she was rather curious as to who was behind it. The multitude of candles were lit, the time-honoured chorus was sung and the candles blown out. 

"Make a wish!" said someone. Chakotay looked thoughtful for a moment. 

"Be careful!" admonished Mike. "Last year you wished some gorgeous blond bimbo would sweep you off your feet. Look where that got you!" This made much of the party laugh. 

"Actually," said Chakotay cryptically, "I got everything I wished for last year." 

"Ooh!" said a number of voices, their interest piqued. Chakotay sliced the cake and began to hand it round, deliberately drawing out the silence as their anticipation heightened. 

"Spill it, Chakotay!" 

"Come on, old man. You can’t just leave us dangling…" 

"Well, I do have something of an announcement to make," said Chakotay cheerfully. The party fell again into an expectant silence, all eyes focused on Chakotay. "I’m going to be a father!" he said eventually, stunning his audience.

B’Elanna was somewhat disturbed by this. Whilst Chakotay was obviously thrilled about it, she was concerned about how Kathryn was taking the news, and glanced at her anxiously. Kathryn looked pale as a sheet, her eyes downcast. Maybe she already knew about this. So much for her little plan! Tom had been right, after all. She was a meddling p'tak. 

"Congratulations!" said a number of voices. 

"My G-d, Chakotay," said Mike, enjoying the chance to stir things. "I didn’t know you had it in you! I take it you’re sure it’s yours this time?" 

"Absolutely! Let me assure you, my friends, that I was an entirely conscious and willing participant in the whole process. I remember helping to make it rather vividly," he responded emphatically, "and I have _very_ delightful memories of it all." 

"Your love life must be on the up then!" said Tom. 

"That it most certainly is!" Chakotay said, taking a wedding ring from his pocket and placing it on his finger. 

"You’re married!" 

"Two months ago." 

"Not Seven?" asked another horrified voice. 

"No, not Seven." He grinned, enjoying their exasperation. 

_Thank heavens for that at least_ , thought B’Elanna. "Why didn’t you tell us?" she scolded her dear friend. 

"We wanted to surprise you." 

"Chakotay, why didn’t you bring her to meet us?" asked Sam. 

"Oh, I did!" He smiled secretly to himself, before slowly lifting his eyes to gaze adoringly at his beloved wife. There she was, sitting right at the far end of the table. Kathryn. There was an audible gasp, as all eyes shifted direction. 

With a huge smile, Kathryn silently mirrored his movements with the wedding ring, wiggling her fingers so that the light bounced off the gold band. And the squeals of delight from the rest of the party nearly brought the house down. 

  



End file.
